Stone Monument Unveiled at FHP

On Sunday, May 22, 2016, we unveiled the stone monument to honor late Frances Kazuko Hashimoto at the Frances Hashimoto Plaza.  Members, families, and friends gathered to celebrate this special occasion.  We were also joined by Frances's son Brian Friedman and community leaders, Chris Komai, the president of Little Tokyo Community Council, and Jan Perry, former LA City Councilwoman. This project was made possible by the Rotary District Grant and the funds raised by selling the rice cooker generously donated by Japan tiger Corporation of USA.  

Since April, 2015, on the fourth Sunday of every month, we have been cleaning up this once neglected plaza, where planters had been used as trash bins, planted drought tolerant Rosemary, and have been maintaining the plaza.  Along the way, local businesses and passers-by have recognized our efforts.  The store owners on the plaza offered to water the plants daily, and La Canada Nursery donated 48 one gallon Rosemary pots, thanks to the in-depth reporting by Nikkan Sun newspaper and the blown-up photos on the windows of U & U Graphics. Our special thanks must go to Derek Furukawa of Southern California Gardeners' Federation, who from day one has been offering professional advice and never failed to come help us with the clean up.

We owe Derek and Brian Yamazaki our sincerest thanks for installing the monument in a very tight schedule.  They spent countless number of hours, preparing and setting the stones professionally.

My personal thanks to Mike Okamoto, who is my Community Service Chair, for close communication and design of the monument.  He could not join us due to his business obligations, but the fruit of his work was evident.

Another thanks must go to Haru Takehana for gathering important documents to include in the Time Capsule to be open in 2066!  It is placed on the right front corner of the base.  The capsule includes roster of the charter and new members of the Rotary Club of Little Tokyo, maps of Little Tokyo, clippings of Rafu Shimpo, LA Times, and Nikkan Sun, roster of other major organizations of the community, etc.

This was a great day, when we all felt a sense of accomplishment to properly honor the remarkable leader of this community, Frances Hashimoto!